                          README for Everest

Copyright 1998

Author:   Mark Lakata, MTL Software

Web site: http://home.att.net/~lakata/everest.html

Email:    mtlsoftware@kagi.com
          lakata@att.net

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Documentation:

The bulk of the documentation is stored in the online Help.  Press F1 for context sensitive 
help.  This README is just for getting started.


Announcement List:

Request to be on the email announcement list for notification of new versions and bug fixes.
Send request to mtlsoftware@kagi.com.


Requirements:

(1) Win95 or Win NT (Win95 recommended)
(2) Turtle Beach Pinnacle Sound Card or AVM Apex Sound Card


Highly Recommended:

(1) External MIDI keyboard connected to pinnacle via MPU401 (external MIDI port on
back of sound card). Without an external keyboard,   you won't be able to tweak and play at the 
same time.  That would be really annoying.  You will also need a special MPU401 (big D-style 
connector) to DIN (round 5-pin) connector to plug them together.  I got mine bundled with
a Cakewalk  demo for $25 at CompUSA.
(2) >=24MB RAM on your computer motherboard.
(3) 800x600 video mode or higher. The bigger the better. Some windows will not fit on 640x480.
(4) SIMM memory for your soundcard.  Both Apex and Pinnacle favor one sided memory, otherwise
they won't fit.  I think neither supports 8MB modules, so use 4MB or 16MB single-sided (chips all 
glued to just one side) FPM or EDO memory modules. 
48MB is overkill. I think 8MB is enough, and 16MB plenty.  The General Midi (GM) ROM set is only 
2MB, so let that be a guide.  You can probably buy 2 4MB simms for $10 secondhand.

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Installation:

(1) First you must verify that your sound card is installed properly.  You should play a MIDI
sequence. Use the windows program "Media Player" and open one of the .mid files from 
C:\Windows\Media.  If this doesn't work, then double click the Everest.hlp file and select
the "Troubleshooting" item.  Old drivers are known to cause problems.


(2) Installation is simple. Simply put the executable file (patcher.EXE) where ever you want.
For consistency, we suggest "C:\Program Files\Everest".  You may want to make a link to the
executable on the Start menu. (Go to Start->Settings->Taskbar, Start Menu Programs->Add)

(3) If you have registered Everest before and you have installed the updated Everest.exe file in
the old directory, your registration should still be valid.  Otherwise, copy the Everest.ini 
file from the previous installation into the new directory.  This will preserve all the
settings from your previous session.


(4) Try running the program. If there are complaints of missing DLL's, visit the Everest web site
and download the necessary DLL's.  The safest method, to avoid conflicts with other software,
is to just copy these to the Everest directory.  You may also copy them to C:\Windows\System if
you like. Most people will not need these DLL's, since they are shipped with nearly every major 
piece of current software.


(5) If Everest complains about "No response from MA-1 synth, Abort, Retry, Ignore", then most 
likely your drivers are either incorrectly installed or have been corrupted while in memory.
Double click the Everest.hlp file and select the "Troubleshooting" item.



The program will automatically make a .ini file in the same directory in which the executable
resides. There are no changes to the registry.

Please let me know if there are any DLL's needed.  I will post them on the web site.

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Uninstallation:

(1) Simply delete the entire Everest folder and all its contents.  If you are planning on 
installing Everest again, be sure that you keep a copy of the Registration Key. This is
stored in Everest.ini, so make a backup of this for safe keeping.

(2) Remove any links you made in the Start menu. 
(Go to Start->Settings->Taskbar, Start Menu Programs->Remove)

(3) No changes are made to the registry, as far as I know.  If Windows sneaks a change, its
not my fault.

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Feedback::

Send comments and bug reports to mtlsoftware@kagi.com

Topics that I would like your opinion on:
(1) What is the most annoying thing about Everest?
(2) What is the most annoying thing about the Kurzweil synth?
(3) Would you rather have an application that saves information in the Registry or not.
(4) Would you rather have a 6MB InstallShield installation that takes forever to
   download, install, etc, or my stripped down distribution (1/2MB) that you install by hand?


Please send me as much information as you want or have time for.  You can not
send too many suggestions/complaints/bug reports.  If a bug can not be reproduced, then
please mention it. If you can reproduce a bug (or crash), please tell me exactly
how, so I can reproduce it.  Send the report to mtlsoftware@kagi.com
If you think that the problem may be due to a system problem (i.e. drivers), please 
send me a description of your system.


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Features available in this release

 Sample uploading
 Sample (header) editor
 Keymap editor
 Drum Kit Wizard
 Global Tuning and Pitch bend setting
 property sheets/ options
 delete samples, keymaps
 right click in modulator editor on lfo/fun/env
 maintain loop points from file
 stereo samples (currently, stereo samples are merged into mono, giving a phaser effect)
 Shareware Registration
 Wavefile merging, for faster upload
 Bank Editor, to merge banks
 Cakewalk instrument file export
 Online Help
 Kurzweil (.krz) file import of keymaps and samples. (Note the MA-1 synth is not
   capable of emulating the K2000 synth.If you heard otherwise, you were lied to.)


Features that may be in version 1.5 (will cost more, unless you are registered before it is  released!)

 MIDI channel layout
 Effects Mixer (although you can set the effects for channel 1, even though
   it doesn't look like it)
 Tonal Program Wizard (i.e. take 5 piano samples, do a FFT and automatically make a keymap)
 Graphical sample editor with simple edit operations: cut, paste, duplicate, filter,
   scale, ramp, reverse.
 Soundfount2 (.sf2) import
 Wavefront (.wfp) import

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Bugs fixed
See the BugLog.txt for Bugs.


Notes on MA-1 Weirdness
------------------------

(1) Samples played above 44KHz are played too loud and distorted.  Lowering levels does not solve
the problem.  Reducing the wave data by 50% gets rid of the distortion, but then you lose dynamic
range and the samples are still played too loud.  There is a feature in Everest to do this
automatically in the Properties|Bank.

(2) The SCALE FUN scales input (A) to be between (B) and (C), that is when A is -1, then the output
is B and when A is +1, then the output is C.  However, it appears to only work when
B and C are positive values, otherwise it doesn't follow any intelligible pattern.

(5) quantize FUN:
  B=124-127  1 step
    120-123  2 steps
    116-119  4 steps
    112-115  8 steps
    108-111 16 steps
    104-107 32 steps

(6) Pitch bend range settings are always reset if you make a modification to the program!

(7) Channel 10 is hardwired to play patch 130, the GM Drum Kit. You can not assign a new program
channel ten, and you can not overwrite patch 130 with your custom kit. You can, however,
change some of the samples in the keymap editor, as long as you don't add any new layers. I don;t
understand this. This has nothing to do with Everest, it is the way the MA-1 works.

(8) Sometimes when uploading wavedata, a byte here or there gets interpreted as a MIDI NOTE ON
message, and you will hear some funny notes!  It doesn't seem to affect the sound quality in 
the end.

(9) Sometimes after making a significant change, nothing makes any sound. Hitting the panic button
solves this problem in many cases. I think this is related to problem (8).

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History:

Version 1.08 
* new feature: SoundFont2 partially implemented
* bug fix: Program and Layer FUNs were swapped when creating a new instance
* bug fix: constant value of 0.0 was impossible
* bug fix: FUN 6 removed
* improvement: sample editor shows aliases
* new feature: SoundFont2 Instrument import
* bug fix: krz translation could crash 
* new feature: drum kit settings saved
* new feature: "quiet key" feature in drum kit
* new feature: can turn off auto program switch after drumkit or sample store
* improvement: you can resize the mod editor
* bug fix: big Windows fonts caused some text to be cut off
* improvement: right-click on browser editor works now
* improvement: export prompts for filename


Version 1.07 May 11, 1998
* bug fix: ROM keymaps and samples were accidentally uploaded, filling up the poor 12KB of ram
* improvement: 16bit sample points are listed in words rather than bytes

Version 1.06 May 10, 1998
* new feature: env presets work now in Mod Editor and Sample Editor
* new feature: context menu in object browser for rename/delete/duplicate
* improved krz import, pitches better set, ROM objects emulated, almost useable!
* improvement: drum kit has some more options: ignore loop info and ignore note off
* bug fix: if no MA-1 device was found, program crashed
* bug fix: timbre shift didn't work at all, how come no one noticed this?!?
* bug fix: sometimes program in drop down wasn't the current program
* bug fix: toolbar buttons for editors didn't work if minimized
* bug fix: bank editor can load all supported bank files, not just pbf
* bug fix: using large fonts with windows caused problems with resizeable windows
* bug fix: the horizontal scroll bar in the mod editor caused a crash if touched
           (note the scroll bar does not appear anymore, but if it does, the program
		    won't crash)

VERSION 1.05 May 5, 1998 
* improvement: layer editor can be stretched horizontally
* fixed bug: merged waves caused crash
* fixed bug: out of memory conditions not properly checked
* fixed bug: changing sound cards is handled smoother
* fixed bug: context menus were not properly updated
* improvement: layer editor can be sized in horizontal direction
* improvement: memory avail improved in status bar and About dialog
* improvement: bank editor can import ROM programs

VERSION 1.04 April 30, 1998
* fixed bug: clicking in the envelope editor windows and then somewhere else caused a crash

VERSION 1.03 April 28, 1998
* fixed bug: banks files longer than 64K were incorrectly saved
* fixed bug: delete program caused crash
* added renumber/rename program command to edit menu

VERSION 1.02 April 27, 1998
* major rewrite of window layout
-> features neato toolbars
-> Most Recently Used files
-> Save window layout from session to session
* rudimentary krz import
* layer indicator lights
* lots of bug fixes, all bugs reported have been fixed

VERSION 1.01 April 1, 1998
* last minute bugs

VERSION 1.00!
* random bugs fixed
* Drum kit improved
   can append to current program
   allows tuning of drums
* modulator editor cleaned up
* FUNs properly labelled, new icons
* LFOs have proper phase in picture
* Registration is now (slightly) hyperlinked
* new effects tab, replaces property sheet and midi window
* some nasty more nasty bugs
* cleaned up code
* help File!
* all features "working"


March 24, release 0.95-bis
* Property sheets fixed.

March 22, 1998 - beta release 0.95
* Registration mechanism ready!: see register.txt
* Bank Editor !
* Uploading is now much faster, because of sample merging.!
* Numerical Sliders show value !
* "play" button in Drum Kit to preview samples
* Drum Kit allows 128 waves now
* minor bug fixes
* LFO in color
* delete/duplicate programs
* lots of little clean-ups, some more minor features


March 1, 1998 - beta release 0.94
* more file formats supported (see below)
* loop information from .wav files is read and stored
* stereo waves are now treated correctly.
* sample store allows multiple file selection 
* sample store creates stereo programs automatically from stereo waves
* application remembers last working directory
* purge keymap/sample
* dependency checking in modulators is working better
* some improvements in Modulator window
* improvements in sample window
* bug fixes!

February 23, 1998 - Alpha Release 0.93
* a few minor asthetic bug fixes
* some major bugs fixes (see below)
* Loads pbf files with sample links (some Awave4.4 files have this apparently)
* right click on controls for more options
* mod depth is now two separate sliders, instead of a range control
* improvements on properties
* another attempt at getting Apex to work
* layers selectable for duplicate or delete edit options
* cleaned up "insert new..." commands
* "SampleStore" feature (see Edit/Insert New Program)
* loads 8-bit PCM samples

Feburary 16, 1998 - Alpha release 0.92
* a few bug fixes
* removed the status dialog, replaced with About and main editor window progress indicators.
* opens AND saves PPE6/Awave4.3 banks, format 0102
* checks for unsaved bank before quit/load/new
* simple Drum Kit Wizard implemented
* changes to sample editor (tranpose)
* infamous "Sample cutoff" problem discovered and fixed in Drum Wizard.
* undo feature for keymap range edit 
* compiled as static binary, so no need for those extra dll's

February 8, 1998  - Alpha Release 0.91
* totally redid the sample editor
* improved the modulator editor
* lots of bug fixes
* Uploads type 0102 banks
* fft analysis of RAM samples (although the numbers are not very reliable)

February 1, 1998  - Alpha Release 0.90

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